Valentinian I, 364 – 375
Contorniate circa 364-375, Æ 26.28 g. APOLLONI – VS TF (sic) ANEVS Laureate and bearded bust of Apollonius of Tyana r., seen almost from front, r. shoulder slightly advanced, togate over tunic, r. hand in fold (sinus) of toga. Rev. No legend. Round-headed arch with wave and pellet decoration set at each end on column with Corinthian capital; beneath, shopkeeper, togate, standing to front, head l., behind table on which pile of small circular objects., l. hand over table, r. raised towards male customer, togate, standing r., r. hand extended over goods; to r., female customer, wearing shawl over long tunic, standing l. and extending l. hand. cf. A. and E. Alföldi, Die Kontorniat-Medaillons, 1976, 110-111 and pl. 38 (obv.) and 224 and pl. 90-91 (reverse). An apparently unrecorded variety of an extremely rare type. A spectacular portrait of excellent style and a wonderful enamel like green patina, minor area of weakness, otherwise good extremely fine Ex NAC sale 5, 1992, 618. The bronze contorniate medallions (from Italian contorniare, “to make an outline”) of the fourth and fifth centuries AD receive their name from the distinctive groove that always appears around the edge. They are generally thought to have served as tokens and perhaps talismans given as gifts in Rome on the occasion of the New Year festival. Types frequently depict earlier emperors and cultural figures of the first and second centuries AD, but later rulers also occur. Types related to the circus and public games were also especially popular. The focus on the Graeco-Roman cultural past in an age when Christianity had become the imperial state religion has led to the suggestion that contorniate medallions were exchanged by members of the Roman elite, many of whom still cherished the old pagan religion, as an act of defiance and yearning for the “good old days”. More recent scholarship, however, tends to doubt this view in light of the use of many of the symbols found on contorniates in Christian contexts and the presence of the Chi-rho symbol on other contorniates. Nevertheless, the present unpublished piece is very much in touch with the pagan past. Although his name is misspelled in the surrounding inscription, the laureate and bearded obverse bust represents Apollonius of Tyana, a Neopythagorean philosopher of the first century AD whose biography was written by Philostratus the Elder in the late second or early third century AD. Apollonius pursued an ascetic lifestyle and wandered throughout Roman Asia Minor and the further East enlightening those who chose to embrace his philosophy and reportedly performing many miracles. While staying in Ephesus he is said to have seen the murder of Domitian in a vision on the day it took place. It is further reported that he healed the sick, ended a famine by casting out demons, and travelled as far as India. When he died it was suspected that he was actually carried up to live with the gods. This representation of Apollonius of Tyana as an enlightened wonder-worker made him a competitor with his Judaean contemporary, Jesus of Nazareth. As the second and third centuries progressed, the fame and influence of Apollonius and his followers spread throughout the Roman Empire, although there were also those, like Lucian of Samosata, who considered him and the entire Neopythagorean school of philosophy to be frauds. Nevertheless, the Emperor Marcus Aurelius followed the philosophy of Apollonius, Caracalla erected a shrine for his worship, and when Aurelian captured resistant Tyana during his war against the Palmyrene Empire (AD 272) he abstained from harming it or its citizens out of respect for Apollonius and perhaps fear of incurring divine wrath. Indeed, the legend of Apollonius and his miracles grew even greater over time and in Late Antiquity—precisely when the contorniates were produced—images and talismans related to Apollonius frequently appeared in cities of the Greek East as apotropaic images, despite the increasing influence of Christianity. Although Christian authorities railed against these images as sorcery and the work of demons, it is telling that none of them argued against them on the grounds that they lacked efficacy. In the fourth and fifth centuries AD, when the Western Empire was on its death bed and surrounded on all sides by barbarians and usurpers waiting to put the last nails in its coffin, one can imagine the comfort to be had in receiving a contorniate medallion like the present piece struck with the image of Apollonius of Tyana. The uncertain reverse type is often thought to depict the booth of a moneychanger or a scene of the distribution of largesse, but another possibility raised by Zadoks Josephus-Jitta (Mnemosyne 4 [1951], 83) is that it represents a distribution of contorniate medallions at the circus. Supporting this view is the fact that other medallions are known depicting the production of contorniates on the reverse. This is the first time that the distribution reverse die has been found paired with an Apollonius of Tyana obverse die.